Clean Bowled by SRK – Letterman Gets a Lesson in Cricket

David Letterman is just plain stumped with the star’s charm offensive.

Somewhere towards the end of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with Shah Rukh Khan, David Letterman finds himself playing cricket with Indian batting star Prithvi Shaw in Mumbai. It is a slightly random sequence (one of many) triggered by SRK telling Letterman earlier that he owned a cricket team as well as had played cricket in his younger days. An amused Shaw (not known for his bowling) sends a few amiable deliveries down to Letterman. He doesn’t survive too long – and is clean bowled.

That is pretty much what David Letterman is through the one hour special with Shah Rukh Khan on Netflix. Clean bowled. Most times, he is just plain stumped with the star’s charm offensive. “You are so darned cute.” he says significantly to the actor. Darned right.

If you are an Indian, nothing in the interview with SRK would be particularly new to you. You have heard these stories before including the now legendary one where he says, “I am an employee of the myth of Shah Rukh Khan.” The stories are narrated with wit, trademark self-deprecation and humour - so you enjoy the retelling.

The host says SRK would top the list of guests he would have learnt something from. The actor dimples graciously, the studio audience is delirious.

But I think I know what you enjoy more – the impact SRK has on David Letterman. He cannot help being utterly charmed – the doting Indian studio audience in New York where the studio interview was recorded is completely on what is coming David Letterman’s way. They know exactly what SRK will do – they wait in delicious anticipation, giggling and cheering him on. He doesn’t let them down – by the end of the interview, the star has Letterman eating out of his hands. The host says SRK would top the list of guests he would have learnt something from. The actor dimples graciously, the studio audience is delirious.

So are we - there is a generation of us (I don’t dare to speak for millennials) which is still self-conscious about how the Western world perceives us. We are touchy about how people who ostensibly represent us, look or speak on a world stage. We are mostly that generation that grew up with SRK as its superstar – and we still look for subconscious validation from American television show hosts. SRK doesn’t let us down. He’s got us covered. More than.

Coming back to the studio interview, it is an easy, entertaining watch. SRK talks about the early loss of his parents and how that has made him determined to live very long for his children. He talks about trying to hold on to his dying mother by giving her grounds for dissatisfaction. His theory being that if you have incomplete work on earth, you try not to die.

You have heard this before. David Letterman hasn’t. But you are still moved. SRK is at his heartfelt best when he talks about parenting – be it his parents or himself as a parent. He is a ‘very very anxious’ one. What you haven’t heard before though is SRK’s views on elder son, Aryan becoming an actor. Aryan recently dubbed for the Hindi version of The Lion King – so you would assume this is all prep for the inevitable. But SRK says that while Aryan is a good writer, he is quite clear he doesn’t have it in him to be an actor. And definitely wants no comparisons with his dad. That one, I hadn’t heard before and also – we will see!

Aryan recently dubbed for the Hindi version of The Lion King – so you would assume this is all prep for the inevitable. But SRK says that while Aryan is a good writer, he is quite clear he doesn’t have it in him to be an actor. And definitely wants no comparisons with his dad.

It is the bits outside of the studio interview – recorded at SRK’s home in Mumbai which are a new viewing experience. Again not in terms of insight, but definitely in terms of access. You haven’t seen SRK in the kitchen making pasta (though there was an unidentified lady in the kitchen who I think did most of the cooking but never mind that.) You haven’t seen him making ketchup faces for Abram. And you haven’t seen his wife Gauri and him sit across the dining table and just chat. About their kids. About their lives. It is all quite disarmingly regular. But then you know it is not – because then we cut to the middle of Eid celebrations and there are 10,000 people outside SRK’s house yelling out his name. Shah Rukh says it is all part of a masterplan. “I don’t have much talent or skill – I just got them to love me.”

Shah Rukh says it is all part of a masterplan. “I don’t have much talent or skill – I just got them to love me.”

So should you watch My Next Guest Needs No Introduction? Yes. Even if you are not a Shah Rukh fan. Beneath the humour and the self-deprecation, there are flashes of insight. Like the time he talks about being overwhelmed by the sea and how looking at it from his house is his way of meditation. Watch it for a masterclass in disarming, consummate charm and how to own an interview. Even when your interviewer is the iconic David Letterman, one of America’s best known talk show hosts. I came away quite entertained and amused – and irrationally proud (I already gave you the back story for that.)

PS – A note to the producers of the show though. What was the larger point in those disconnected sequences of Dadar flower market and other assorted montages of Mumbai? And sitar music in the background – thank you for sticking to the handbook for first world television producers shooting in India. *Insert Indian exoticism and colour wherever you can with no particular relevance.*

PPS – I am still wondering what a man called Owen (yes, Owen) will do with a picture of a Hindu deity. Please freeze that shot and see his polite bewilderment.

(Naomi Datta tweets at nowme_datta and her admiration for Shah Rukh Khan is well documented. Largely by her.)